chaotic life. pretty things.

Turning pages.

I’ve been reading. A lot lately. Not so much writing. I’ve been in a little idea rut. Mainly because I’ve been wearing sweatpants and wearing a storm trooper plastic arm brace. I digress.

Apart from my normal daily reading: articles, blogs, blips, posts; I’ve been Reading. Books. With paper pages. I’ve been wearing my glasses. I’ve been feet up head down, laughing and crying and learning new things and they are not on the internet. This is unusual for me because really, what mother of two very active children, working or not, has time to read unless:

1. You are on the beach (with one eye on the kids of course) 2. You are using public transportation to commute to work or 3. You are on disability and have a lot of time to yourself mid-day. No one will let you vacuum and online shopping has become dangerous? I fall into #3. So I’ll share my findings so far.

First easing into reading again by keeping it light. A funny, cheeky but very informative book called “How to Be a Parisian Wherever You Are; Love, Style and Bad Habits” by a bunch of French women friends (see pic)

I love books like this as they are a fast read and usually contain some fun and useful information with chapters such as:

the best version of yourself

a mother with flaws

classic and foolproof french recipes

Something about those French women, they have all the answers. And it looks nice stacked with all my fashion and style coffee table books in my room.

Next I chose to follow up on a book I read last summer (on the beach, which is reader category #1 from above) “if I stay” by Gayle Forman which was about a girl who is in a car crash with her family who are all instantly killed and she is in a coma and looking down on life going on around her and deciding whether to snap out of it or not. (I think they may have made it into a movie last summer).

The sequel is “where she went” … possible spoiler alert.. It tells the tale of what happens after. Loved these. They were full of heart, some family drama and in general very well written. Come to find out they’re totally categorized under young adult. Oh well. I’m young at heart I guess. They were sweet.

Side note: as an “occasional book reader” I tend towards the lighter end when it comes to fiction. Not really drawn to the dark stuff. There’s too many sicko stories on tv and in the news (I refuse to watch the local news. Ever. Downer. AND they never get the weather right.) That’s just me though. To each his own right?

What I really enjoy and always have is reading about the lives of real people. Artists, Actors, Writers, Musicians, Designers etc. I love to read a good memoir and know what makes people tick and why they love what they do and how they got there etc.

That brings me to Amy Poehler’s “Yes, Please” and I just gotta say this once. She is my famous twin sister. It’s scary how much we think alike. I hopes he finds this charming and not creepy if she ever happens to read my ity bitty blog.

What I appreciate the most is her honesty about being a working mom, a comedic writer, someone who is passionate about her passion but not snobby about it, and her general gratitude and reminiscence about her time growing up in the 70’s and 80’s and her family life.

I like her writing style too and have learned a lot about how I want to evolve as a writer just by reading her book. I’ve also remembered that I really love to read non fiction. Particularly auto-biographies. People stories.

say whatever you want. do whatever you like.be whoever you are.

k.got it.

So it may not surprise you that next up is Tina Fey’s “Bossy Pants”. (I’m a little behind the eight-ball on my nytimes #1’s because again, what freaking mother has the time to read unless you fall into one of the categories I’ve listed above)?

Also on my short wish list are the following autobiographies by women:

After that I’m thinking I may revisit a classic like Gatsby to you know, take it up a notch and to remember why it’s truly the only book I read cover to cover in highschool and have been obsessed with all things “Gatsby-esque” ever since. Hamlet came in second as I did read half before getting the cliff notes and finally watching Strange Brew. (Loosely based on hamlet and hilarious).

I like my new/old hobby and am going to try and continue as best I can when I re-enter the real world, or at least at the beach. Whatcha all reading these days?

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2 thoughts on “Turning pages.”

Great blog Carin…yes it sometimes takes a disability to reconnect with books. Love the quote “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” Enjoy the adventure of reading!
Love MiMi